MOVIE REVIEW: MacFarlane's 'West' isn't funny enough

Friday

May 30, 2014 at 9:00 AM

'Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane leaves clever behind and goes for the easy laughs in “A Million Ways to Die in the West,”

By Dana BarbutoThe Patriot Ledger

‘Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane has turned tasteless humor into an art form. In “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” his follow-up to the smash “Ted,” MacFarlane conjures up a silly and subversive story set in the vicious Old West, a place where people can “literally die from their own farts.” Yes, the dying is easy, but the comedy is harder. It basically caters to a 14-year-old boy’s insatiable craving for poop jokes, a yen MacFarlane gleefully accommodates to the point where he makes the Farrelly Brothers look tame.

Those bits quickly grow repetitive and detract from the moments when MacFarlane flashes his true cleverness. Those instances are hilarious, especially an inspired titular premise: That the Old West is a boring, miserable disease-ridden place where “you can get killed just by going to the bathroom.” Other fatalities range from misadventure with an ice block to cholera: “the latest offering in the Frontier’s disease of the month club.”

But, for the most part, MacFarlane and “Ted” co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, go for the cheap and easy instead of the envelope-pushing edginess that defines MacFarlane. Cue the crickets and tumbleweeds, as long, dull periods pass between jokes during “West’s” exorbitant two-hour runtime.

It begins promisingly with MacFarlane, the director, casting himself as sheep rancher Albert Stark, a Frontier-era geek who has never shot a gun and hates living in the “cesspool of despair” that is the Wild West in 1882. He’s not much of a rancher, has a rep for being “yellow” and is fixated on the unbearable awfulness of the West. It’s no surprise his embarrassed girlfriend, Louise (Amanda Seyfried), promptly dumps him and takes up with Foy (a scene-stealing Neil Patrick Harris), the condescending proprietor of the town’s fancy “moustachery.”

Albert is distraught, but his prospects brighten with the arrival of the mysterious Anna, charmingly played by Charlize Theron. The scenes between Theron and MacFarlane are sweet. Anna cozies up to Albert, who has no idea she is the wife of Clinch (Liam Neeson), the most dangerous man in the territory. Before you can say shootout at High Noon, you can betcha there’ll be a climactic gunfight between Clinch and Albert. But not before Anna helps Albert get his groove back.

The supporting roles are largely one dimensional. That includes Ruth (Sarah Silverman, hilarious per usual), an earnest Christian prostitute who has sex 15 times a day at the brothel, but abstains with her celibate boyfriend (Giovanni Ribisi), who takes her for picnics in between tricks. Harris is terrific as the smarmy stud with the twirly “facial accessory.” Neeson supplies the story with ample menace.

Per usual, MacFarlane takes his shots at blacks, women, American Indians, Christians, Asians, Jews and homosexuals. Some of the punchlines connect, others are eye-rollers, like the running gag about Seyfried’s big peepers. Then there’s the host of empty cameos by Ewan McGregor, Jamie Foxx, Ryan Reynolds, Gilbert Gottfried, Bill Maher and Christopher Lloyd. They serve no purpose other than to prove MacFarlane has lots of famous friends.

Like the Old West setting, it feels gimmicky. Funny, yes, but not funny enough.

Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@ledger.com or follow her on Twitter @dbarbuto_Ledger.

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